EU Slams Pakistan’s Democracy in Latest GSP+ Review

The European Union’s latest assessment of Pakistan under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) is more than a routine review of trade compliance. It is one of the sharpest official assessments yet of Pakistan’s democratic decline and human rights record. While the report acknowledges some legislative progress—including reforms relating to minority rights, anti-torture measures and protections for women—its broader conclusion is unmistakable: Pakistan has fallen short of several commitments that underpin its preferential access to the European market.

Pakistan has benefited from the GSP+ program since 2014 and remains its largest beneficiary.

In 2024 alone, it exported goods worth around €7.5 billion under the scheme and received tariff exemptions estimated at €732 million. Much of that advantage has flowed to the country’s textile and garment industry, which dominates Pakistan’s exports to Europe. Yet the report makes an important distinction.

These trade preferences are not unconditional economic benefits; they are linked to Pakistan’s obligation to uphold 27 international conventions covering human rights, labour standards, environmental protection and good governance.

The assessment therefore raises an obvious question: can Pakistan continue to enjoy the commercial advantages of GSP+ while steadily drifting away from the standards on which the program is built?

Democracy Under Strain
The report’s most striking findings relate to Pakistan’s political landscape during the 2023–2025 monitoring period, particularly after the 2024 general elections.
According to the European Commission, the period was marked by persistent concerns over the integrity of the electoral process, an intensified crackdown on opposition leaders and supporters, and an expanding military role in political affairs. Collectively, these developments, it argues, have weakened democratic institutions and eroded the rule of law.

Some of the language is unusually blunt for an official EU document.
The report states that political rights have been undermined by abusive judicial proceedings and the detention of opposition leaders and supporters, including a former Prime Minister. It also expresses concern over fair trial guarantees, prison conditions, access to legal counsel, family visits and medical care. More significantly, it concludes that military trials fail to meet the standards set out in Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the right to an independent, impartial and public hearing, together with adequate legal representation.

These observations carry particular significance because they come from a long-standing economic partner that has generally preferred quiet engagement over public criticism. Unlike reports issued by advocacy organizations, the GSP+ monitoring process has direct implications for Pakistan’s trade relationship with Europe. Continued failure to meet its commitments could eventually place its preferential access at risk under the revised GSP framework due to take effect in 2027.

Human Rights Beyond the Political Sphere
The report’s concerns extend well beyond electoral politics.
It points to an increase in enforced disappearances, especially in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, alongside continuing allegations of extrajudicial killings carried out with little or no accountability. The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances is criticized for closing thousands of cases without determining responsibility or providing meaningful answers to affected families.
Freedom of expression has also come under sustained pressure.

According to the report, amendments to cybercrime, anti-terrorism and blasphemy laws have widened the scope for authorities to use vaguely worded provisions against journalists, political opponents, lawyers, students, minorities and human rights defenders. Strategic litigation, administrative harassment and arbitrary prosecutions have, in the Commission’s view, created a climate in which criticism of the state carries increasing personal risk. Repeated internet shutdowns during elections and periods of protest have only reinforced those restrictions.
Religious minorities remain another area of serious concern.

Although Pakistan has established a National Commission for Minorities and adopted a policy on interfaith harmony, the report concludes that discrimination remains widespread. Ahmadis continue to face legal discrimination, attacks on places of worship, criminal prosecutions under discriminatory legislation and restrictions on their civil rights. It also notes that Pakistan’s legal definition of minorities excludes Muslim minority sects and ethnic communities, leaving significant gaps in legal protection.

The situation facing children is equally troubling. Despite legislative reforms, nearly 26 million Pakistani children remain out of school, while child labour persists in hazardous occupations. Even after declaring a national education emergency, spending on education declined, highlighting the gap between official commitments and implementation.

Trade Benefits Must Be Matched by Reform
The report does not overlook areas where Pakistan has made progress.
It credits the country with narrowing the scope of the death penalty, maintaining the de facto moratorium on executions since 2019, strengthening the National Commission for Human Rights, ratifying the ILO Protocol on Forced Labour, adopting implementation rules for the Anti-Torture Act and introducing legislation addressing domestic violence and child marriage in several jurisdictions.
At the same time, the Commission returns repeatedly to a central point: passing legislation is not enough. Without effective implementation, institutional independence and accountability, legal reforms alone cannot fulfill Pakistan’s international commitments.

That principle lies at the heart of the GSP+ framework.

The scheme was never intended to function solely as a trade arrangement. It was designed as an incentive for governance reform, rewarding countries that demonstrate sustained progress in protecting internationally recognized rights. Preferential access to European markets is therefore inseparable from measurable improvements in democratic governance and the rule of law.
The message from Brussels is difficult to misinterpret.

Pakistan remains an important trading partner for the European Union, but continued preferential access cannot be separated indefinitely from its democratic and human rights record. The Commission identifies a series of priorities, including ending enforced disappearances, strengthening judicial independence, improving prison conditions, protecting journalists, revising cybercrime and blasphemy laws, strengthening safeguards for minorities and ensuring accountability for human rights violations.

This reflects a broader shift in European trade policy, where market access is increasingly linked to governance, sustainability and adherence to international standards.

For Pakistan, the stakes extend well beyond tariff concessions. Nearly 28 percent of its exports are destined for the European Union, making Europe its largest export market. Any reduction in GSP+ benefits would affect one of the country’s most important sources of export revenue at a time when it continues to grapple with high poverty, fragile foreign exchange reserves and deep structural economic challenges.

Seen in that light, the European Commission’s assessment is more than a technical compliance exercise. It is a reminder that GSP+ rests on a reciprocal understanding: preferential market access in exchange for credible progress on democratic governance, human rights and the rule of law. While the report recognises reforms in several areas, it concludes that those gains are increasingly overshadowed by the deterioration in political freedoms, judicial independence and civil liberties.
For that reason, the latest GSP+ assessment reads less like a routine monitoring report and more like a carefully assembled charge sheet—one that places Pakistan’s democratic trajectory under intense international scrutiny and serves as a warning that future trade privileges may ultimately depend on genuine institutional reform rather than legislative promises alone.